New method could help in diagnosis of dementias

Published on 27/12/2012 00:00

A NEW way to use MRI scans may help determine whether dementia is Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia, according to new research.

Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) often have similar symptoms, even though the underlying disease process is much different.

Study author, Doctor Corey McMillan, of the Perelman School of Medicine and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center at the University of Pennsylvania, in the United States, said: “If the clinical symptoms and routine brain MR are equal, an expensive positron emission tomography (PET) scan might be needed.

“Or, a lumbar puncture, which involves inserting a needle into the spine, would be needed to help make the diagnosis.

“Analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid gives us reliable diagnostic information, but this is not something patients look forward to and is also expensive. Using this new MRI method is less expensive and definitely less invasive.”

The study involved 185 people who had been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease consistent with Alzheimer’s disease or FTLD and had a lumbar puncture and a high resolution MRI. Of the 185, the diagnosis was confirmed in 32 people either by autopsy or by determining that they had a genetic mutation associated with one of the diseases.

Researchers used the MRIs to predict the ratio of two biomarkers for the diseases in the cerebrospinal fluid, the proteins tau and beta-amyloid.

The MRI prediction method was 75 per cent accurate at identifying the correct diagnosis in those with pathology-confirmed diagnoses and those with biomarker levels obtained by lumbar punctures.